Same, But Different
by soultaker78
Summary: Sam and Paulina have a confrontation with each other and learn that they are not as different as they think.  SamxPaulina.
1. Chapter 1

Paulina was not happy. For about the past week, Sam Manson had been going around the school saying she was gay and hitting on every girl she came across. She even tried joining the cheer leading squad so she could "have the opportunity to shamelessly look up other girls' skirts." She didn't get the chance to try out after saying that, but that was far from the point as far as Paulina was concerned.

The bubbly latina then remembered an incident that happened three days ago. Dash and Kwan cornered Sam and with the intention to beat her up for being gay. Apparently Dash was a homophobe, among other moral failings. But then something unexpected happened: Kwan stood up to stop Dash.

Kwan had once had an uncle that was killed by a KKK lynch mob and was raised to stop that kind of thing from happening if he had the opportunity. The two jocks nearly got into a fight, but they cooled off before the situation escalated.

Since then, Kwan realized that the motives behind what he and Dash did to all the geeks, losers and rejects of Casper High were disturbingly similar to those of the KKK that had killed his uncle. Kwan then decided to stop bullying people and to stop Dash if he ever could.

Paulina was not angry at Sam because she was a homophobe like Dash. She was angry for a far more personal reason. She had sent an anonymous message to the goth lesbo saying that a girl wanted to meet and make out with her after school, under the bleachers. Paulina was now waiting at the rendezvous point for Sam, when the dark dressed teen walked into view.

"You're the one that wants to make out with me?" Sam asked in shock.

"No, I just sent you that message because I need to talk with you, privately," Paulina explained.

"Okay, but make it fast."

"You can't just go around telling everyone you're gay when you're not just to turn some heads. There are kids in this school who have to hide their true orientation because they're afraid of what will happen and what you're doing is an insult to them."

"Are you one of those kids, Paulina?" Sam asked with a mischievous smirk.

"Uuuum," Paulina stammered, trying to think of someway to refute Sam's accusation. "What would make you say that?"

"Why else would a selfish bitch such as yourself have her panties in a knot?"

The bubbly latina tried to think have something that would prove Sam wrong, but she could not. "All right. Truth is, I'm bi," Paulina said admitting her greatest secret.

"Thought so," Sam said with a victorious look on her face.

"But that's not the point," Paulina shrieked at Sam. "The point is that what you are doing is an insult to teenagers everywhere who are genuinely not straight."

"Well I'm genuinely not straight as well. I am currently going through a bi curious phase and thought I'd milk it to, as you put it, turn some heads. But – and this is very hard for me to admit – you are right about what I'm doing being an insult to all non heterosexual teenagers, so I will cut back on hitting on other girls a bit."

"Good," Paulina said and started to walk away from Sam, having accomplished her self imposed mission.

"Seeing as how we are both here, there is a question I would like to ask you, Paulina," Sam said.

"What is it?" Paulina asked as she stopped and turned to face Sam.

"You constantly make concessions to who you are so you can fit in and be the queen bee every time you put on a piece of clothing or listen to some music because it is in style, as opposed to you actually liking it. My question is, do you even know who you are anymore after making all those concessions?"

Paulina simply smirked at the question, already having an excellent counter argument in mind. "The way I see it, you pretty much do the same thing I do, even if it's for the exact opposite reason. You wear goth clothes and listen to goth music because you want to swim against the current, not because you actually like that stuff. So I have to ask, do you really know who you are?"

Sam just stood open mouthed at what had just been asked of her as Paulina turned and walked away.


	2. Chapter 2

Sam was now at her home, Paulina's words echoing through her mind. Sam really did like goth clothes and music. But originally, she only got into that stuff because she wanted to swim against the current and piss off her parents.

Sam was now in her bathroom as she removed her violet colored contacts and took a good look at her real eye color. Her eyes were actually green. As she looked at her green eyes she noticed that they looked good even though they weren't unique like her contacts. But more importantly, they were her real eyes.

She was surprised that Danny and Tucker had never asked her about how she didn't look like either of her parents. Neither of them had said anything about how weird it was that a blonde man and a red haired woman had a daughter with black hair, or that no one had violet irises. She supposed that they just didn't care.

As Sam admired her natural green eyes, she realized that Paulina was right about her. She had made compromises to who she really was, just like Paulina. But whereas Paulina and people like her made those compromises to fit in and conform to some pre established notion of what is normal, Sam did it to go against conformity. She had done the same thing as the bubbly latina, even if it was for the exact opposite reasons.

As Sam realized this epiphany, she began banging the counter of her bathroom and letting out tears. She had strived to be different from Paulina and her ilk, but had ended up falling for the same trap of conformity in a different way. It went against everything she stood for as a goth.

Then Sam decided that she needed to look at her real hair color. She undid her ponytail, placed her head under the sink faucet and started to wash out the black dye she used. No one outside of Sam's family knew of her greatest shame: she was a natural blonde. Sam had originally dyed her hair to facilitate her transition into the gothic lifestyle.

After Sam was done trying to remove the dye she looked in the mirror and saw that the dye was still there, only slightly faded. She realized that she had used the dye too often and too much for to be removed so easily. That hit her hard, because it meant that the compromises she had made to become a goth were becoming permanent and she was losing track of who she really was under all the black clothes, hair dye and violet contacts.

She gave 5 more attempts at washing out her hair dye. The dye was faded more, but she still couldn't see her real blonde hair. She decided that she would try again later.

Sam then went to her room, took off her boots, skirt and tank top, and started to go through a box of normal clothes she had – normal in this case meaning anything that wasn't gothic or one of those super girly numbers her mom was always trying to get her to wear. She kept the stash of normal clothes in the event she ever felt like wearing anything that wasn't gothic. She was really glad now that she had done that

---------------------------------

Paulina was in her room, looking at herself in a full length mirror and thinking about what Sam had told her earlier. She liked things about her reflection – her figure, her skin, her face – but didn't really think that it was who she really was inside.

She didn't really like her hair. While it was certainly pretty, she had always wanted to do something different with it. She had never done so because of her desire to fit in and be the most popular girl in school.

Paulina then decided that it was now time for a change. She went into her closet and pulled out a box with the necessary tools to create her new hairstyle and clothes that would go well with it. She had kept those items for a while and now finally had the motivation to use them.


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning at Casper High, a drastically different Paulina walked up to the school. Her hair was dyed pink and put into thick braids that resembled dreadlocks. At the end of each braid was a gold colored ring about an inch in diameter.

She was wearing different clothes as well. She was wearing black pants that had thick, pink lines going along the sides. Her shirt was black on the torso and was pink on the sleeves and sides. On the her chest, outlined in white, was what looked like a yin yang symbol with the normally white parts replaced by pink.

Paulina met up with Star outside the school and the two continued walking up to it. The blonde was surprised at the bubbly latina's new look. "Are you feeling all right, Paulina?" Star asked.

"I'm fine," Paulina replied. "I recently decided to stop giving a crap about what other people think of me."

"What made you do that?" Star asked and saw a girl she didn't regognize standing in front of them. This new girl was white with green eyes and short black hair that looked strangely faded. She was wearing blue jeans, a green top, and white sneakers. "Get out of our way new girl."

"I will in a minuet Star. Right now I really need to talk with your latin half. Alone," the girl said in a voice Star recognized as belonging to Sam.

"Okay," the blonde said and then walked away, too shocked by the sudden changes in Sam and Paulina's appearances to do much else.

"What the hell happened to your hair?" Paulina asked once they were alone.

"I could ask you the same question," Sam retorted. "Anyway, to answer your question, I tried to wash out my black hair dye yesterday and this was as much as I could to after 6 washes. What about you?"

"I just wanted to try something new. What color is your hair really?"

"That's not important. What is important is that I have something I need to tell you," Sam said then took in a deep breath. "You were right about me yesterday. I was making the same kind of compromises to I am just like you and everyone like you, even if it was for the exact opposite reasons," Sam finished and had a dejected look on her face.

"Well, you were right about me too," Paulina said and put a comforting hand on Sam's shoulder. "After you told me that I might have started losing track of who I really am, I found the courage to try out this new look."

"Thanks. Tell me, is there any significance to this?" Sam asked and moved her finger around the odd yin yang symbol on Paulina's shirt.

"Yes there is. People always talk about how black and white are opposites. But I think black and pink are opposites because of the meaning behind them."

"You mean black representing doom and gloom, and pink standing for overly perky cheerfulness?"

"Exactly," Paulina said almost giddily. "I am so glad you get that."

"Anyway Paulina, there is one last thing we need to talk about. Something that was briefly mentioned yesterday."

"What's that?"

"We're both bi. And your new look is getting me really turned on," Sam said and moved in to try to kiss Paulina, but was stopped.

"Not here. There are two many people around. Meet me in the girls bathroom next to the library in between classes," Paulina said and then the school bell rang, meaning it was time for classes to begin.

After their first classes were done, Sam and Paulina met up at the destination Paulina had specified. The two got into a stall and began to intensely make out.

As they drank in the taste of each other, both felt immense gratitude to the other for pointing out how they were the same, but different. Like a reversed image in a mirror, or opposite sides of the same coin. They weren't certain were this new relationship of their's would take them, but they were certain that they would enjoy getting there.


End file.
